A Game of Lies
by caroline52197
Summary: Four Years after the Fall of the Dark Lord, Hermione Granger is engaged to Ron Weasley, but one day and old friend arrives, begging Hermione to marry her fiance
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hello! Just a quick thing, "Luxia" is pronounced "loo-sha" (there's a reason she's named this)**

Hermione sat curled up on her couch watching the evening news. She wasn't really paying attention though; her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking about the bill of house elf rights she was proposing, which book she should read next, and her wedding. Ron had proposed to her a month ago at midnight on New Year's Eve and they had set the date in early August. She was just thinking about the dress she wanted when she heard a familiar _*fwomp!*_ come from the fireplace behind her. She turned and saw Luxia Silverman step out, her platinum blonde hair grey with soot. Luxia had been Hermione friends since sixth year. Luxia had transferred to Hogwarts during the middle of sixth year from her school in the U.S.

"I see you finally got your own place!" she said, her blight silver eyes looking around the room.

"Yeah, I thought it was about time to move out of the burrow. How'd you find me, anyway?"

"I asked Mrs. Weasley, but she didn't know you apartment number. You have no idea how many fireplaces I had to go through to find you." She shook the soot out of her hair and sat down next to Hermione.

"Hope you didn't frighten anyone too much." Hermione said chuckling, imagining the faces of her paranoid neighbors.

"Thankfully nobody saw me." She stared at Hermione's hand and smiled. "I see he finally proposed. When's the wedding?"

"August." she said proudly. "Speaking of weddings, when's yours? And can you finally tell me who your mystery fiancé is?" Hermione asked eagerly. She had learned that Luxia had a fiancé in Hogwarts towards the end of sixth year when she had to read Luxia's mail to her because she was temporarily blind from an accident in potions. She had relentlessly pestered her for information about the mystery man, but Luxia didn't give up much information about him, other than the fact that she hated the thought of marrying him.

"On one condition, you marry him." She grumbled.

Hermione laughed, "He can't be that bad."

She looked at Hermione, "I'm serious, I want you to marry him."

Hermione examined her face and realized she wasn't kidding._Why can't you just skip work or a meeting like a normal person? _she thought. "I can't, I'm kind of engaged," she held up her hand showing her diamond engagement ring. "Why do you want me to marry him anyway?"

Luxia sighed, "Because if I marry him, then some things about me will come to light and I'll have a huge target on my back."

_Of course. _Hermione thought. This was a recurring theme every time she asked someone to help her, she always had some form of impending doom upon her everytime she asked someone to take her place for a period of time. "What 'things'?" she asked, knowing she wouldn't answer. Luxia never answered any questions about her escapades until they were over or she was in trouble.

"Things nobody needs to know right now." She sighed, "Look, Hermione, I'll tell you everything later, but right now I just need you to do this for me. Please."

Hermione sighed, "Fine, how long will I have to pretend to be his wife?" she said, knowing Luxia wouldn't back down until she agreed.

Luxia smiled, "About a week so I can get everything straightened out."

"Ok, when's the wedding and who's the groom?"

"The wedding's in a week."  
>"Ok, so who's the groom?" she bent down to scratch Crookshanks who was rubbing up against her leg. He purred loudly.<p>

"Do you promise you won't back out when I tell you?"

She thought about it. _He couldn't be that bad_ she thought. "Yes," she said finally.  
>"It's Draco Malfoy."<p>

"What?" Hermione yelled, stunned. "I can't marry him! OW!" Startled, Crookshanks had scratched her and scampered off. "Luxia I can't live with him, Ron would never agree to it."

"I'll pay you a thousand galleons a day" Luxia said quickly  
><em>Hermione's jaw dropped<em>_. 7,000 galleons?_ She thought, _That's more than enough!_

"Please Hermione, I'm begging you!" she pleaded.

Hermione could see how desperate she really was and she knew how much she needed the money. "Fine," she said, "but only if Ron knows."

Luxia pursed her lips, "alright."  
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"Ron, what would you say if I told you I was getting married soon?" Hermione asked, clutching a steaming mug in her hands. Thinking of every possible way he could react to the news.

"I'd say, six months isn't that soon." He said smiling, "Why?"

"Luxia had asked me-" she was interrupted by Luxia exiting the green flames of the Weasley's fireplace, coughing loudly.

"You really should clean that," she waved her wand and the soot on her flew back into the fire place. She sat down next to Hermione.

"Why don't you just apparate?" Ron took a sip from his mug.

"Because I'm not legally allowed to do it in the U.K. until I take the test." She sighed, "It's so annoying, yesterday I tracked soot all through Hermione's apartment!"

"You've been here for so long, why haven't you taken it yet?" Hermione asked summoning the Daily Prophet.

"Because the standards are stricter here! I have no idea how any of you guys passed. Anyways," she turned to Hermione "did you tell him yet?"

"Tell me what?" he asked.

"I was just about to tell him." She said examining the front page headline _"Malfoy Marriage! Details on page 13."_ _Is it really that big of a deal? _She wondered.

"Tell me what?"

"Can we just assume you did? That would make life much easier. You know that he'll just argue with you."

"I'm right here!"He said loudly. They both looked at him. "What is it?"

She set the paper down, "Luxia wants me to marry her fiancé."

"Why?" he asked turning to Luxia. He was used to hearing Hermione talk about Luxia's many escapades, many included people taking her place in events while she was off doing something not approved of by her family.

"Personal reasons. Don't worry she just has to live with him for about a week so I can get everything straightened out." Luxia explained. "I'm going to be paying her a grand a day."

His eyes widened, "Seven thousand galleons? Is he really that bad?"

"He's not that bad," Hermione snorted, "the money's for my reasons. So, would you be adverse to it?"

"No as long as she _only_ has to live with him, so who is he?" He took a sip from his mug.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione whispered.

Ron almost spit out his tea, "That Ferret? NO!"

"You do realize we weren't asking for your permission." Luxia said picking up the paper and flipping though it. She smiled and shook her head.

"Doesn't matter! Hermione you won't marry him!" he commanded.

"You can't tell me what to do Ronald!" She said angrily standing up. "Besides how else do you suppose we pay for our wedding? I can barley afford my rent and you're making next to nothing!"

"We'll mange! You're not marrying him!" he stood up also.

"I'm marrying Malfoy and that's the end of it!" she yelled.

"Did we miss something?" a voice said from behind.

All three turned and saw Harry and Ginny standing in the doorway, "Hermione is there something you want to tell us?" asked Harry.

"I'm just gonna go now," Luxia said edging towards the fireplace, "See you at my place tomorrow?"

"Sure," Hermione said, her eyes fixed angrily on Ron. Luxia disappeared in the roaring green flames.

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters (excluding Luxia) depicted in my story and no money was made from this.**


	2. Chapter 2

Narcissa circled Hermione, searching for imperfections in her appearance, expression, and stance. Hermione swallowed hard, a diamond encrusted, white choker, that Narcissa also wore, strangled her. Her hands were clasped so tightly in front of her that they began to ache and she feared that her nails would break the skin, she hated standing like this. Her head felt heavy from the intricate up-do that was held together by large, metal, jewel-encrusted clips. Her dress was a blindingly white and excruciatingly tight mermaid style gown. She began to feel dizzy, she told Narcissa that she thought the dress felt to tight but she was assured by her that it fit perfectly and she would get used to it.

"Honestly, that women! I can't believe that she had you in clothes that didn't fit," Narcissa said sitting down. She was wearing a flowing emerald green gown, Hermione envied the freeness of it, "We'll have to get you a new wardrobe so you don't embarrass us."

Hermione started to sit down but was caught halfway, the dress wouldn't allow it. Narcissa rolled her eyes at her, "Why Lucius chose you I'll never know."

"You're not supposed to sit down in that dress, Madame," said one of the attendants that had dressed her. "Lady Malfoy, I believe it's time for you to return to your seat."

Narcissa stood up and hugged her soon-to-be daughter-in-law and whispered, "Don't embarrass us, there's no room in this family for idiotic whores like you mother." And left.

_I hate you too _she thought, glaring at Narcissa. _What was Luxia's mother like?_ She wondered. Luxia never spoke of her or any of her immediate family. Only of her aunt, who she had lived with over the summers, and the other members of her extended family. She turned and look into the mirror and saw her friend. She looked beautiful in her wedding attire, but it wasn't something she'd wear, it was too serious, too constricted.

"Madame, it's time for you to go."

"Ok" she said and began her long walk.

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"Left! Right! Left! Right!" Luxia repeated as Hermione walked in squares around Luxia's apartment. They had cleared away the furniture in the main room so Hermione could practice walking in six-inch stilettos while maintaining the proud pure-blood stance that she would have assume at the wedding. After an hour Luxia was finally satisfied and allowed her to take a break. Hermione took the books off her head and Luxia handed her a bottle of water she had summoned.

"I can't believe you have to walk like that," Hermione said taking a sip of her water.

"I know, I hate it! Imagine the trauma I went through when I learned how to walk like that when I was five!" she shook her head, "I hate being a pure-blood so freakin' much!"

"So what will I have to deal with besides Malfoy?" she asked healing her bleeding feet.

"Not that much since you're not going to be talking to many people. Just don't let anyone find out about /that/ or else we'll have a problem." Luxia picked up the stilettos and waved her wand to clear away the blood stains. "Are you sure you want to do this? If they find out, you can't divorce him." She held out the shoes to her.

"I'll be fine, we need the money," she said taking the stilettos.

"Hermoine, it'll be fine if you wait another year for the wedding."

"You know it's not for the wedding," she slipped into the stilettos and stood up.

"Why haven't you told him yet?"

"We're in a rough patch, I just don't want to put more stress on the relationship. Can we please get back to practice?" she asked, desperate to change topic.

"Alright," she said, "Let's see if you can handle this." She waved her wand, turning Hermione's clothes into a fitted mermaid gown and three large books flew to the top of her head.

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Hermione walked alone through the halls of the Noxis manor, as was tradition for members of the family. The Portraits of Luxia's ancestors watched her proudly as she gracefully glided past them. All the people in the portraits had flaming red hair, bright, honey eyes, and tanned skin. It was hard to believe she's related to them Hermione thought to herself. The paintings became newer and the people, a little more diverse. Quite a few had married Veela, possibly explaining where her pale skin, icy eyes, and platinum hair had come from. These paintings smiled and clapped as she walked by them, congratulating her.

_They're so different from the Malfoys_ she thought, smiling slightly as she walked past them. She turned and entered the ballroom. She was breathless at the beauty of the large room. It had gold and ivory ornate walls, and large windows with elegant, royal blue curtains. The floor was sparkling royal blue marble with a large white marble "N" in the center. The ceiling was a painting of a garden of angels and cherubs that watched curiously at the event down below. The room was filled with easily 500 people, many of which were former death eaters. They all stood and stared at Hermione with blank faces as she walked down the Iris petal strewn Isle. The only noise in the room was the clicking of her heels and a piano playing from somewhere. She then saw Draco, his hair was combed back and he was dressed in a suit like the one he had worn sixth year, except his shirt was white rather than black. He looked the same as he did four years ago. Same platinum blonde hair, same pale skin, same bright silver eyes, same Malfoy.

_Huh… He looks a lot like Luxia. Probably has some Veela in him._ She thought as she walked to his side and took his thin, cold hand in hers. She looked into his eyes; they were still as blank as they'd been four years ago.

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"Please don't be too harsh on him when you're with him," Luxia asked positioning Ron and Hermione in the way that she and Draco would be standing at the altar. "You're supposed to be his wife, so act like it. But act cold to him, like the thought of being with him forever as your mate discusts you. Maybe some rushed wedding sex would make it more convincing!" Luxia said fixing Ron's shoulders.

"I/she am/is not going to sleep with him!" Ron and Hermione said at the same time.

"I never said you _had_ to it would just make him believe you're me. Also, wouldn't it be a little suspicious if you don't sleep him on your wedding night?" she said straightening Hermione's back.

"I/SHE AM/IS NOT SLEEPING WITH HIM AND THAT'S THE END OF IT!" They yelled.

"Fine, I'll find you a way out of it," she mumbled as she finished adjusting their posture. "Ok so, Hermione when you kiss him, nobody will be looking at you, but you still need to maintain your posture in case someone does look at you. Luckily during the kiss you won't have to move, but don't flinch when he kisses you, pretend he's Ron."

"Easier said than done," Hermione mumbled.

"Then let's practice." Luxia said snapping her fingers, changing Ron into Draco.

"How did you do that?" He asked, looking up at his now blonde bangs, it was his voice was his rather than Draco's.

"In America they don't like it when people use wands for spells, they think they're too breakable, so we learned wandless magic our first year. It's very convenient since I don't have to worry about accidentally breaking my wand."

"Does that mean I'll have to use wandless magic when I'm around them?" Hermione asked. She, like many others, had very little experience with wandless magic and would probably break her hand if she attempted it.

"No, you're not supposed to since your husband can't. Anyway, you won't even be able to use magic in Noxis manner during the wedding."

"Why not?"

"So nobody interrupts and tries to kill someone. You know how pure-bloods are."

"So who's 'Noxis' anyway? Shouldn't you be having the wedding at your manor?" Ron asked, his body was starting to ache from the unfamiliar way he was standing.

"Noxis is my last name but I just use Silverman so people don't freak out when they meet me. We're getting off topic. Ron kiss her. Hermione, close your eyes and stand there."

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Hermione closed her eyes as Draco kissed her. His lips just barely grazed hers, there was no passion in it like her kisses with Ron, no emotion. She suddenly felt the eyes that had been bearing down on her shift their attention elsewhere as Luxia had said.

_What are they looking at?_ She wondered, fighting the temptation to open her eyes and see. She then felt him pull back and she opened her eyes and saw his. They were blank as though he was thinking about something else. The people in the audience were clapping now as they turned, arm in arm to face them. Draco began to lead her down the aisle to the exit. As they passed, Hermione heard soft jeers directed at her from the former candidates for Draco's wife and their mothers. She laughed on the inside at how petty the insults were, but they did make her wonder. Why, out of all these obedient, proper girls, had Luxia been chosen as Draco's fiancée?

A/N- Hey how you guys doing? Thanks for the wait, but just to inform you, this is posted on harrypotterfanfiction and is a chapter ahead there so if you want to know what happens next head over there (Same username btw)


	3. Chapter 3

When they had exited the manor they had walk through the courtyard on a cobble stone walk which, thankfully, wasn't a problem for Hermione due to Luxia's "training." They eventually came to a tall, blue, open wrought iron gate with a large "N" in the middle of each door. Each "N" was surrounded by a laurel made of golden leaves and flowers. Outside the gate was a green carriage with a silver pattern encrusted on the side and two silver snakes intertwined on the on the door.

_Why am I not surprised._ She thought, scanning the gaudy carriage, she began to miss the simple elegance of the Noxis manor as Draco opened the door revealing tacky rugs, and all-too-detailed wallpaper. There were two old paintings, one of a scowling man, the other of an expressionless woman with empty eyes. She missed the happy portraits that smiled and congratulated her as she walked by.

"Who are they?" Hermione asked without thinking, taking Draco's hand as she climbed into the carriage. _Damn it!_ She screamed in her head, she'd broken rule number one, no questions. Luckily though she had picked the question that Luxia would have asked.

"They're my ancestors, the ones who brought us Malfoy's to glory," he said proudly, staring at the painting of the man. Hermione suddenly realized that the paintings didn't move and stared curiously at them.

"Did they sell their souls to do it?" Hermione asked coldly, as Luxia had instructed her, struggling to sit down. Hermione herself didn't hate Draco, but she wasn't fond of him either. She had, for the most part, forgiven him for his bigotry and blind hatred towards her at the end of her seventh year at Hogwarts when he had told Crabbe not to kill him and when she learned more about his family life. She almost pitied him. Almost.

"Look, I know you're not happy with the arrangements, but we have to make the best of them," he said with a sigh.

"Can we just go?" she asked, wiggling into a sitting position.

"Ok." He sat opposite her and banged on the side of the carriage. The carriage moved swiftly, but gently as it rose up into the sky. "I can't believe you were able to sit in that dress without it-" they hear the sharp tare of silk, "ripping…"

"Oh thank god!" she breathed in relief. The entire back of her dress had split apart, luckily she had convinced her attendant to let her squeeze a bra on underneath. She ripped the diamond choker off her neck and massaged it. "I HATE this fucking dress!"

He stared in disbelief, he had never seen anybody treat such valuable heirlooms with such disregard. Holding up the broken necklace he asked, "Doesn't this mean anything to you? This is what sets you apart from all other women. How dare you take it off so disgracefully! Doesn't being a Malfoy mean _anything _to you?" he wasn't really angry, he was distraught, she was nothing like he expected. She was a _Pureblood _for god's sake! Does she not know what it means to be the bride of a Malfoy?

"No actually, it doesn't," she said, struggling to undo a hair ornament that was deeply woven into her head.

He continued staring at her. His father had told him the she was unique, but not this unique! _Why the hell did father choose HER? _ He screamed in his head

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"Why the hell would Lucius choose you if this is how you normally act around him?" Hermione asked in disbelief as she listened to Luxia tell her about every meeting she had with the Malfoys.

"I have no idea! He wasn't obligated to keep me as Draco's fiancée at all!" Luxia shook her head, "I'll never understand that man."

"You even said that your family isn't all that powerful anyway. Wonder if he has an ulterior motive, maybe they want even _more _attention! I can see the headlines now: _Malfoy Mystery Girl_" she paused, "Now that I think about it, what did you mean when you said that people freak out at your name?"

"Well ya see, one time when I was in London I went to a fancy restaurant and they asked for my name and when I told them it was 'Luxia Noxis' the girl standing behind me grabbed my hair and slammed my head onto the podium."

"Bloody hell, she did that just because your last name is Noxis?"

"No, because I was _Luxia Noxis_, fiancée of the Malfoys only child, Draco Malfoy."

"Is it really that much of an 'honor' to marry him?"

"To pureblood women, yes. The Malfoys are an extremely powerful and ancient family, not to mention rich. Whoever marries him will have all the power and money they want, so needless to say A LOT of people want to marry him and hate whoever is gonna marry him."

"So what happened next?"

"We left, if I had punched her back then, then I would have been scolded and it probably would have gotten into the news, which would have been a disaster."

"Would women track you down and fight you?"

"That and people at Hogwarts, and in general, would know that I was Draco's fiancée and treat me differently. Also I'm really ashamed to be _his _fiancée with all the rumors going around about me."

"Rumors?"

"I'll tell you about those later but first…"

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The past half hour had gone by awkwardly silent and it had come to the point where Draco couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry." He said, loud and clear to make sure she had heard him.

"What?" Hermione asked, snapping back to the present.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, "I'm sorry that I freaked out about the dress and necklace, can we just forget about that?"

"Uh… ya… yeah, sure." She said, slightly confused by his abrupt apology. _Guess he's grown up, _she thought. _Oh damn, now I have to talk to him._

"Thank you," he said with a small smile, rather than his former smirk.

"Hey can you hand me my bag, I want to get out of this dress."

"Sure," he handed her the black bag that was under his seat. She took it and began searching through it, trying to find Luxia's "way out." She came across a champagne bottle and two champagne flutes. On one of the flute there was a note only she could read: _Drink from this one and it won't affect you. _She handed Draco the other one.

"I see you came prepared," he remarked as she popped the bottle. She poured some into her glass and passed the bottle to him.

"Cheers," she said, clinking glasses with him

"To a great night," he said and drank the pale gold liquid from the glass. His eyes slowly began to shut and he dropped his glass as he fell asleep.

"Well that was easy," Hermione said as she changed into cotton shorts and a loose tee-shirt. She pulled out a book and read for the rest of the trip.

**A/N: Sorry this is such a short chapter (like all of them…) and that this is so late. BTW if you want to read the next chapter, it's on my HPFF account, I have the same pen name and the story has the same title.**


	4. Chapter 4

The carriage bumped to a halt as they arrived at the Malfoy beach house. Hermione looked out her window, the sky was grey and cloudy, she a dark, ominous, ocean rising and falling against pale grey sand. She looked out the other window and saw a tall, dark forest and a large dark green mansion that looked nothing like a beach house.

"This is depressing," Hermione remarked as she put her book back into her bag. She opened the door and stepped out, a cold, moaning wind blew past her, sending a nipping cold through her bare leg "What a horrible honeymoon spot!" She went back into the carriage and fished out her wand, which had been disguised to look like Luxia's. She waved it and all her belongings flew into the bag. She waved it again and everything else, including Draco, started floating. With her belongings, and Draco, floating closely behind her she walked up the dreary cobble stone path that lead to the house. Along the path there were deep green bushes with black roses blooming from them.

_Why are all Malfoy houses so creepy? _She wondered as the ominous wind blew past her again _This is so unnecessary! _She walked up the black granite stairs to a huge, black, set of doors and turned the knob, letting out a loud creak, as she opened the doors.

"Are you kidding me?" she huffed. The décor was equally as creepy and stereotypical haunted house-ish as the outside. The room was unusually dark and illuminated only with silver candle sticks. The furniture was dark and Victorian with intricate paisley patterns embroidered on then in silver thread. The rough-looking oriental rugs were green and silver with silver tassels lining two sides. The wall paper was emerald green and gaudy and covered with still-portraits with eerily blank expressions and many mirrors lined with silver. There was a faint moan and rattling of chains. "What is this?"

"Did you kill him?"

"Of course there's a ghost," She turned and saw a translucent woman floating by Draco. She had long light hair and was wearing a simple flowing gown.

"Wish I had killed my husband. What's your name?"

"H-Luxia, and you?"

"Julia. Need some help burying him, Luxia? Or are you just gonna burn him? If you are I know the perfect place. Please, can I help you?" she asked eagerly.

"H-he's not dead. I just didn't want to talk to him." She stuttered slightly startled by her reaction.

"Oh… you should kill him before you end up like everyone else."

"Everyone else?"

"Almost everyone who is a part of this family loses their soul," she said casually adjusting her hair in a mirror.

_Luxia I'm going to kill you! _"Is that why none of the portraits move? Who are you? How do you know this? What about me?" she asked, completely disregarding the no question rule.

"Yes… er… well… at least I think so. I was the wife of a Malfoy a long time ago and I regret it so much! They expected me to be completely submissive to my husband like all the other wives, who were just lifeless dolls."

"But what about me?"

"You should be good as long as you don't submit to them."

The chains began to rattle and something moaned again. "Julia!" It cried.

"It's been 200 years can you shut up already!" she yelled in response and the rattling and moaning ceased.

"Who is that?" Hermione was so distracted she forgot about Draco and dropped him.

"Ow…" Draco moaned, sitting up.

"Oh look, he's awake." Julia said, disgustedly, "Good luck." She flew off yelling something that Hermione didn't catch.

"What happened?" He asked rubbing his eyes. His hand suddenly rushed to his mouth and he vomited in a nearby vase.

"Ew…" _What did I give him?_

"What did you put in my drink?" he moaned angrily.

"Quite frankly I don't know," she said guiltily as he retched again into the vase, "I'm sorry. I didn't want to talk but I had no idea it would do that!" _Damnit! Volunteered to much information!_

"How could you not know?" He vomited again, "You could have just said you didn't want to talk…" His moans were muffled from the vase and the distant rattle of chains.

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"He will want to talk to you-"

"-And she won't talk to him." Ron interrupted, sitting with his arms crossed on the couch next to Hermione

"-And you will talk to him." Luxia finished annoyed.

"No she won't," he said stubbornly.

"Yes she will," She said with acid in her tone.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"YES SHE WILL!" Luxia yelled.

"NO SHE WON'T" Ron yelled back.

"WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE? WE DON'T NEED YOUR HELP ANYMORE!"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE MARRYING MY FIANCEE OFF TO SOME FERRET MAN-WHORE!"

"CAN YOU TWO PLEASE ATLEAST CONSIDER MY OPINION!" Hermione yelled in a tone that made then both back down. "I am going to side with Ron-" Luxia groaned in disapproval as Ron whooped, "-because right now he's being a pretty good sport about things."

"Hermione please reconsi-" Luxia began.

"This is part of the agreement Luxia."

"But Hermione, this isn't about who's a good sport or not, it's about keeping them from knowing who you are!"

"But wouldn't I talking to him reveal that I'm not you?"

"He hardly knows anything about me in the first place. Besides, if he blacks out for an entire week that will look suspicious. And what happens if he wakes up in the middle of it?"

"Please." Hermione begged in a voice to low for Ron to hear, "I don't want to stress our relationship anymore."

"Alright," Luxia sighed.

"So, what happens when the weeks up?" Ron asked suddenly.

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Hermione was unpacking her bags in a guest bedroom, she didn't feel like spending time with a vomiting, angry Draco. She walked over to the fireplace when she had finished and tossed in some floo powder and a minute later Luxia's head appeared. Her hair was now jagged and short with burnt ends. She was covered in soot.

"This isn't a very good time," she wiped some of the soot away with a handkerchief, "What do you want?"

"He woke up," she didn't bother asking questions about her appearance.

"I told you! Is he throwing up?"

"Yeah, a lot. What do I do?"

"Nothing, it'll pass, just check and make sure he's not heaving up blood." There was a loud crashing sound from behind her. She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. "Hermione, I have to go."

_What is she doing? _She wondered as Luxia's head disappeared. Hermione went and checked on Draco, who was now curled up pitifully in front of the toilet with bile on his cheek. Hermione sat down on the edge of the tub and looked at him for a second and began to feel guilty at his pained visage. She pulled out a cloth and cleaned his face and then filled a glass of water and placed it next to him.

Hermione began to think about how she should act. If only she hadn't deviated from Luxia's original plan, then she would know what to do and how to act. What would Luxia do? She was by no means the epitome of a refined lady, so there had to be something about her that Lucius liked. But what was it? She was nothing like Narcissa or any other pureblood woman. Is that it?

"I wonder…" Hermione said out loud.

**A/N: Hey guys sorry for the late update, life has been hectic.**


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